Apple unveiled everything about the new iPhones and the new Apple Watch two days ago at their keynote and you probably already know the gist of everything they unveiled at the show. However, would you agree if we told you that Steve Cook and Co just confirmed the 3D Touch's failure to make any significant impact? Well, it depends on your point of view of course, but there's ample evidence to support one of two theories; either Apple failed to recognize or capitalize on the potentially great technology, or they just found it to be an unnecessary gimmick.

The reason as to why we are going on about this is of course the fact that the cheapest of the three iPhones, aka the iPhone XR doesn't have it! If you are going to tell me that a $749 (base model) smartphone can't support 3D Touch, which has been around for three whole years on older gen iPhones now, then I am going to tell you to get your fanboy hat off and look at things as they are!

If you are willing to pay $999 or $1099 for the base models of the iPhone XS or XS Max though, the 3D Touch is still retained there. This of course, leads us to the third conclusion; Apple just made a 3-year old technology premium-grade! The company is getting more and more ridiculous, one year at a time.

Saikat Kar

If you are even remotely interested about Apple and its products, then you probably already know that the company is going to reveal the next iPhones on September 12. However, that's not going to be all that the Cupertino giant will reveal, as you will see next.

The New iPhones

There will be three iPhones this year and none of them will have a Home button or a fingerprint scanner, just like the current gen iPhone X doesn't. They will be named iPhone X (same 5.8" OLED with updated internals), iPhone Xs (6.1" LCD with single camera) and iPhone Xs Max (6.5" with dual cameras).

The Next iPad Pro

The next iPad Pro will be launched in the same 12.9" model, but a newer 11-inch model might just replace the 10.5-inch form factor this year. Aside from updated internals, it is expected that the new iPad Pro will not have the Home button either, giving us the first bezel-less tablet!

Affordable MacBook

A new MacBook Air with a cheaper price tag might be headed towards us this year, but we will have to see where Apple decides to cut corners to keep the price down.

Mac Mini Pro?

An affordable Mac without a display and a small form factor is what the Mac Mini has been so far, but this year, Apple is rumored to add more juice to the mini computers for professional users.

New Apple Watch

The Apple Watch Series 4 will definitely be coming with the latest iPhones and there will probably be two variants this year. Both the variants will sport bigger displays and higher resolution for better visibility thankfully. They will also be shipped with the new WatchOS 5.

Those are the main attractions at the show of course, but rumor also has it that the previously announced AirPower wireless charging pad with the capability of charging three Apple devices (Apple Watch, iPhone ad AirPods) simultaneously will also be unveiled at the show, along with a charging case for the AirPods. We will find out how much of these rumors are true in just three days' time.

Saikat Kar

Can you live without a home button on your next shiny new iPhone? Well, you are probably living just fine already if you own the iPhone X, but at least you had a choice to go for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in 2017. As per recently posted images by 9to5Mac, none of the iPhones which Apple will release in a week's time will have the Home button. Does this mean that Apple is bidding adieu to the fingerprint scanner completely? Well, it certainly looks that way, unless they can do a Vivo and install the fingerprint scanner right within the display! Check out the images yourself, which also happens to have the 4^th gen Apple Watch on there as well.

Just in case you are not up to date with the rumor mill, let us remind you of the key ones below.

·         Both iPhones will be styled similarly to the iPhone X

·         Only the larger, 6.5" iPhone will have an OLED display and two cameras

·         The older iPhone X might receive a price cut, but an upgrade in hardware ($899)

·         The new 6.1" device will be sold at $699 and the large screen, 6.5" iPhone will cost $999

Do take all this with plenty of criticism because unlike Samsung, Apple usually plays things pretty close to their proverbial chest.

Saikat Kar

Dual SIMs have pretty much become the standard among international Android phones, but just like the Micro-SD card, Apple has always shied away from the concept itself. According to a few new reports though, that is probably going to change this year because the new and upcoming iPhones may just have support for two SIMs.

This move could bring Apple closer to their Indian market and that is most likely the reason as to why the Cupertino giant might be thinking about dual SIMs in the first place. After all, India did overtake the US as the number two smartphone market in the world. Given that China is the biggest smartphone market in the world and the customers there also prefer dual SIM phones, the move actually makes even more sense.

When it comes to Apple, a lot of their exclusivity has been in offering "less for more," and ironic as it maybe, that is how they do business and a lot of people actually love them for it! They got rid of the headphone jack, never adopted the micro-SD card slot and there is no fingerprint scanner on their current flagship handset, but these omissions have done little to hamper their sales figures, not to mention they have actually managed to push their profit margin even higher on all their devices! It would be interesting to see if Apple really does adopt the dual SIM technology; something which everyone else had adopted years ago.

Saikat Kar

Last year, Apple changed the way they had released iPhones till date by creating a new "X" range of iPhones. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus still came out and followed more or less the same design elements as the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, but it was the iPhone X that got all the attention and rightly so. It is a matter of argument and debate whether the iPhone X is selling well, but one thing is for certain, Apple will not be ditching the X line-up this year. Moreover, if the latest rumors are to be believed, then the electronics giant from Cupertino may introduce some of the premium features to even the cheapest model of the iPhone 2018 as well.

Speculations suggest that all the three iPhones this year will sport a similar design to the original iPhone X, albeit with some modifications. However, the 6.1-inch model, which is expected to be the cheapest of the three, will sport only an LCD display, while the 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch iPhones will sport OLED panels, just like the iPhone X. We will keep you posted as more rumors and leaks pop up.

Saikat Kar